Spider-Man Homecoming Post-Credit Scenes: What Do They Mean?

1 year ago

We can all breath easy now that the latest Spider-Man reboot is a huge success during its first day at the box office. But fans looking for a little something more are starting to pour over some of the movie’s finer details. There are two post-credit scenes for Spider-Man: Homecoming and they are both worth sticking around for. It is now commonplace for Marvel to tease the next installment in a franchise or introduce new characters during a mid and/or post-credit scene. For instance, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 teased the inclusion of Adam Warlock in the next Guardians movie along with having fun with the characters in a non-serious manner. Homecoming is the latest movie in the MCU to be released and it appears to be taking a cue from Guardians in the post-credit scenes as one is serious and one is humorous.

Warning, there are SPOILERS ahead for those who have not seen Spider-Man: Homecoming yet or for those who left during the credits. Homecoming contains two post-credit scenes and the first has to deal with the battle between Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Michael Keaton’s Vulture, aka Adrian Toomes at the end of the movie. Peter Parker makes a choice at the end of the movie to save Adrian Toomes from death and has him all wrapped and ready to be delivered to jail by law enforcement.

At the mid-credit scene, Toomes is seen in jail being approached by a menacing fellow inmate looking for information about the true identity of Spider-Man. Toomes does not roll on Peter Parker and walks away with a gleam or sinister look in his eyes. These scenes strongly suggest Sinister Six is heating up. The menacing inmate is former associate Mac Gargan, played by Michael Mando. Gargan is enraged by Peter Parker’s involvement in his arrest, yet he doesn’t know Spider-Man’s true identity. Which he pressures Adrian Toomes to give up. Vulture does hint at a future team-up with Gargan, saying, “I’ve got some friends on the outside.”

Most are assuming that Mac Gargan will assume his comic book role as Scorpion in Spider-Man: Homecoming 2. And as stated by director Jon Watts, this is a villain we haven’t heard of in previous Spider-Man movies, or seen yet. It is now being speculated that Vulture and Scorpion will lay the groundwork for Sinister 6. Even though Michael Keaton, who plays Toomes, is only signed for one movie. Some assumed that he’d be killed off in Homecoming, but that’s not the case. This could lead to Toomes returning, to go after Peter Parker by himself, but does raise questions for more than a couple of reasons. First, Peter Parker saved Toomeses’ daughter’s life while also saving the dad’s life. Second, with Michael Keaton only signed on for one movie will the Vulture even return? Maybe not in an MCU movie, but perhaps in one of the Sony spin-offs.

Michael Keaton’s portrayal of Vulture isn’t really the typical villain as seen in Marvel’s past. In fact, Keaton has stated in interviews that he doesn’t even like to call Toomes a villain. According to Jon Watts via Entertainment Weekly, he doesn’t see Toomes as a stereotypical villain either, but a more complex character thanks to Michael Keaton. Keaton’s performance and the script lead Toomes to be more of a redeemable character instead of relying on the typical villain role. Watts went so far as to explain that “He had to be redeemable in some capacity in the end he believes everything he said, especially about his family.”

The second and true post-credit scene revolves around Chris Evans and Captain America. Evans appears as Captain America in public service announcements throughout the movie that teachers play for Peter Parker and his peers in high school. For this particular message, Captain America speaks of the virtue of patience and how it can sometimes payoff, addressing the audience directly. Captain America then goes on to say that patience isn’t always rewarded and that sometimes people wait a long time for something, but it isn’t what they wanted or had hoped for. Kind of like the post-credit scene audiences just sat through.

The last post-credit scene really makes one understand why everybody that saw early screenings urged people to stick around until the bitter end. It was all just a giant effort to troll Marvel fans and moviegoers, a clever ploy, playing off of the emotions of fans expecting a teaser of Spider-Man getting ready for Avengers: Infinity War or a possible tease of which MCU character will be in the second installment of the trilogy. Instead we get a title card announcing that Spider-Man will return to the big screen in 2019. But hopefully most fans weren’t going to see Homecoming strictly for the post-credit scenes because the movie is a solid good time and if you haven’t seen it, go now. Or if you have seen it and you’re craving more Spider-Man. Check out Tom Holland doing his best Batman impression below.